Exclusive: First pics of Shalim and Trejo in ‘Bad Ass’

Shalim Ortiz, known from his work in the critically acclaimed Dominican film Yuniol, and the NBC series Heroes, doesn’t know it, “but he just f@cked with the wrong Mexican” – Danny ‘Machete‘ Trejo. What we mean is that Ortiz is teaming up with Trejo, Ron Perlman (Hellboy, Cronos, Sons of Anarchy) and Charles Dutton (Alien, Gothika) in a movie called ‘Bad Ass‘, which has still to have an official release date, but is rumored to be aiming for a Toronto Film Festival premiere, September 8-18th. 

The plot for the film has Trejo playing Frank Vega, a Vietnam veteran and senior citizen, who becomes a YouTube sensation and local hero when he takes on political corruption and a vicious street gang in an effort to solve and avenge his best friend’s murder.

Shalim plays the 17 and 25 year old versions of Danny Trejo’s character, Vega, in the film. He’s a high school football star who leaves his girlfriend Lindsay behind to enlist in the army and serve in Vietnam. He proves to be a skilled, brave and dedicated soldier, earning a Purple Heart and suffering a severe leg injury. Upon returning home, Frank discovers that Lindsay has moved on and his job prospects are bleak.

Ortiz just wrapped up the production a few days ago in Oklahoma and is on a work frenzy as he has 7 films in the can and 6 in development, including the highly anticipated ‘Gardel‘ about the Argentinian raised tango icon, Carlos Gardel, who died tragically in a plane crash in 1935. He’ll play Pizarro, and most likely, will speak with an Argentinian accent. Let’ see how he pulls it off. The movie is set for release sometime in 2013.

Below are the first exclusive movie stills from Bad Ass.

The film is directed by Craig Moss (The 41-Year-Old Virgin Who Knocked Up Sarah Marshall and Felt Superbad About It), and produced by Ash Shah, Ben Feingold and Jim Busfield.